Hunger strikes are time-tested tool of protest in Korea

People Power Party floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, right, stages a hunger strike at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, May 8, urging the party's presidential candidate, Kim Moon-soo, to quickly cede his poisition to independent candidate and former acting President Han Duck-soo. Yonhap

For 27-year-old Bobby Sands, a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, securing political status for imprisoned Irish republicans in Northern Ireland was an urgent cause he couldn’t ignore.

When he began his hunger strike as a way to achieve that goal in 1981, few imagined he would die of starvation 66 days later in Maze Prison outside Belfast.

For Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the People Power Party, who last week urged conservative presidential candidates to unite behind a single bid, a hunger strike also seemed like a useful political tool.

But when he began, few imagined he would walk away after it lasted just two days — from Wednesday night to Friday night.

Not every hunger strike in Korean politics lost its bite like Kweon’s.

Some, particularly during the country’s democratization movement, delivered a powerful punch against military rule and fed the fight for democracy.

One of the most significant hunger strikes in Korean political history was former President Kim Young-sam’s 23-day fast in 1983. He demanded key democratic reforms, including an end to press censorship, the release of political prisoners and a constitutional amendment allowing direct presidential elections.

The 1980 massacre carried out by former military dictator Chun Doo-hwan’s regime — when thousands of pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, were brutally suppressed with guns and bayonets — became a catalyst for Kim’s decision to go on a hunger strike.

Former President Kim Young-sam lies in a hospital bed during his 23-day hunger strike when he was an opposition lawmaker in May 1983. Yonhap

“On the eve of the third anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, I felt a solemn decision was necessary. The people needed freedom sooner, and that required stronger resistance against the dictator,” Kim later wrote in his memoir.

Even after being hospitalized due to deteriorating health, Kim continued to refuse food, ending the strike only after repeated pleas. His protest delivered a symbolic blow to Chun’s authoritarian regime and helped galvanize the pro-democracy movement.

Also well-known is the hunger strike of former President Kim Dae-jung — both a political rival of Kim Young-sam and, at the same time, a fellow pro-democracy activist who would later become a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

In 1990, Kim Dae-jung embarked on a 13-day hunger strike to urge the ruling bloc to revive Korea’s system of local self-governance. Although originally established in 1949, the system was effectively dismantled just over a decade later, when military strongman Park Chung-hee came to power and suspended local democratic institutions.

“Decentralized governance was essential for democracy. Throughout my political career, I fought for its realization. If I were to be given a nickname, ‘Mr. Autonomy’ might suit me best,” Kim reflected in his memoir.

His hunger strike proved successful, helping to pave the way for Korea’s first local council elections in more than 30 years, which were held in 1991.

Former President Kim Dae-jung, then leader of the Party for Peace and Democracy, is hospitalized at Severance Hospital in Seoul on the eighth day of his hunger strike, Oct. 15, 1990. Yonhap

The long tradition of political hunger strikes led by former presidents is now being carried on by those who aspire to the office themselves.

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea’s presidential candidate, launched a hunger strike in 2023, calling for a sweeping overhaul of state affairs under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

However, the legitimacy of his 24-day protest was called into question by some critics after he publicly urged lawmakers to reject his arrest warrant on the eve of a parliamentary vote over alleged corruption during his tenure as Seongnam mayor.

People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo has never officially gone on a hunger strike as a politician, but he has said that he frequently did so while imprisoned during his time as a labor activist in the 1980s.

When they met at the National Assembly Friday, Kweon Seong-dong asked Kim, “You’ve done quite a few hunger strikes yourself, haven’t you?” Kim replied, “Dozens of times. I’d go on strike at the drop of a hat while in prison.”

After seven years as a factory worker and labor activist, Kim was imprisoned in 1986 for organizing a pro-democracy movement in the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul. He later testified that he was tortured in prison — including being bound in an arched position, with his arms and legs tied behind his back.

While hunger strikes once played a key role in Korea’s democratization, their growing use by politicians in recent years has drawn increasingly skeptical public reactions.

“I support hunger strikes when they’re for a greater public cause, such as calling for an end to the war in Ukraine,” said Lee In-hyung, a 72-year-old business owner, told The Korea Times. “But when it’s done to serve one’s own political ambitions, I don’t think it’s right.”

Still, hunger strikes remain a powerful tool for politicians seeking public attention.

“The word hunger strike itself carries such intensity that it naturally generates headlines and captures people’s attention,” political commentator Kim Sang-il told The Korea Times.

But he warned that overusing the tactic without meaningful follow-through risks diluting its impact.

“These days, the public can often see right through politicians who go on hunger strikes — their timing, motives and likely end,” he said. “That predictability undermines their seriousness, and if not backed by real action, the backlash falls on them. Eventually, hunger strikes may no longer be taken seriously at all.”